You've found a great place to come and vent, share or ask for prayer support. This is a great group who will be very encouraging, caring and loving....anyone is welcome to join!

A Servant's Prayer --

Jesus, My Jesus....How marvelous are your ways....
Far more splendid than my mind can envision.
What an honor to be chosen by you.
A lowly child I am, but empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the great hope to which you have called me.
I give myself totally to you, Lord.
Take my imperfect heart and make it perfect.
Peel away the hardness.
Close the doors I have opened to the temptations of this world.
Gently remove the roots of painful memories, sins, doubts and fears.
Discard anything that separates me from you.
Lord, fill the emptiness with the light of your love that I might be a beacon calling the lost back to you.

To love as you love.....
To serve as you serve.....
To forgive as you forgive.....
Always mindful of my nothingness while doing great and marvelous things in your name and for your glory.
This I pray, Jesus, in YOUR name ...
Amen.

Gary-I sure hope you're feeling better soon. It's awful to get these bugs, especially on your days off

We've had a nice restful day and I was surprised to see 2 more pounds gone on the scale this morning-woooooohooooooo! That's 6 since I got back on track a week or so ago! We've been told there's more snow on the way, so not sure if we'll be going to church tomorrow, but someone said something about some game with lots of funny commercials that we could watch tomorrow evening

So, anyway, obviously nothing's going on here-DH and DS3 are racing cars on the new big tv, but it looks more like a demo derby right now Making some steak and baked potatoes and salad for supper, so must go take care of that.......

Well it's almost time for the Super Bowl...minutes away...and I still don't know who I want...lol...I have reasons to like and dis-like both teams! Hoping for a good game, I am sure by the time it gets going I will root for someone.

Watching the game alone...not a problem...as I have been sick since Thursday afternoon. I have finally kicked the 102 temp and have been at 99 most of the day. I will be going to work this morning loaded with dayquil!

I wasn't able to go to church today because of the fever but Angie went, brought home a bulletin and the sermon was online so it was almost like being there.

I will have a long week again with the 13 hour days of commute and work but I hope to check in daily.

BARGOO ~ prayers on their way for CISSY and her family & friends who love her tonight -- for comfort, peace & love, etc ...

GARY ~ prayers going up for you and your cold/flu bug as well; as well for travel mercies too.

We had some ***** and now cooler temps for the night which is good as our Winter Carnival is on right now; but the temps have been nice for during the daytime so more folks will be able to participate, I think.

Just been doing stuff around home here as per usual; roast beef dinner with veggies (plus small new potatoes and sweet potatoes) for our dinner tonight. Will have leftovers tomorrow night too.

I have to go the dentist on Tuesday for a filling; and a check on another. Praying all will go well without any problems (nausea and such); maybe should take a gravol pill with me just in case ...

Been reading some great historical romances to while away my evenings. Have a great week everyone ... Rosebud

HI RONNI ... congrats on 2 more lbs; you're doing swell ...

PS: UPDATE ON PRAYER REQUEST ~ OK, I looked into that story I mentioned earlier; it was accurate and it wasn't at the same time. There were two persons who worked there who died (both were sick and both committed suicide, but not at the same time). One was a man about 2 years ago (we knew him & his family); the other was a lady on the day I mentioned (last week). There was some confusion becuz they were mentioned at the same time; and the layoff was discussed too. I think I will check the stories out myself in the future BEFORE I mention anything to anyone ... forgive that please!

Busy day yesterday, even more than most Sundays. My church has accepted a request to provide a monthly service at a local nursing home. (This is not connected to my work as a nursing home chaplain at a different location, which is supervised directly by my bishop as an evangelistic outreach.) So yesterday I led and preached at my nursing home's Protestant service, facilitated the Catholic service, did individual visitation with communion, then attended our church's Sunday service, then facilitated the new nursing home's service while teaching our pastor and some other members what to do. Cruised home about 4:30, feeling as if I'd been hitched to a draft wagon all day.

On days like this one, it's virtually impossible to get any healthy food into my body before mid-afternoon. Sundays are tough. My nursing home is located quite a distance from my home (it's less than a mile away from being in another state, LOL!), and my church is within walking distance of home, so the commute is a doozy. My lupus makes it tough to eat very much when I'm enroute, because of digestive issues.

I'm not complaining (okay, maybe a little bit), just recognizing that this is a special challenge for me.

When I got home, I ate a good solid meal, but the hunger didn't go away. Finished my Weight Watchers points at dinner, but remained hungry through the night, and woke up ravenous and still tired. I'm noticing that the continual hunger, which had been relieved after about a week on WW, is back as strong as ever.

Hubby says that I'm probably more mobile than many people my size (and definitely more than many people with lupus). I tend to be a fighter, just getting through whatever comes my way and not giving up. And I'm not giving up with my WW, either. Just trying to figure out how to make things work more smoothly on Sundays.

I weigh in on Wednesdays, because I have a mandatory dawn-to-sunset fast on those days (part of my ordination promises). So I have two days per week when eating doesn't happen until mid-afternoon at the earliest. That's an issue that most dieters don't have, and it's a challenge. But it also makes it obvious that God is intrinsically woven through the fabric of my weight loss efforts, and that's a good thing to remember.

AUNTY ~ I agree with your DH that with your very busy lifestyle, you probably are burning a lot of energy off, so that could leave you a bit hungry. I try to have a small healthy snack of some kind in the evening to keep my sugars balanced and so I don't wake up feeling sick in the night. It may just be something small like a piece of cheddar & 2 whole grain soda crackers with some tea; or a baked apple with walnuts (done in the microwave with cinnamon & splenda) -- just enuff to tide me over. I'm sure you could save a few points for the evening.

Maybe you could take some small healthy things for the day (for Sundays) like bananas, apples; or dried fruit & saltless Nuts; and a fiber or protein bar, etc. These are not bulky or messy; and you can have them and some tea for a quick break.

Had a busy day starting with my dentist appointment; thanks for any prayers sent my way -- it all went quickly and smoothly. I couldn't sleep last night from the anxiety; kept waking up or getting up almost every hour. I prayed for this young dentist beforehand; and he decided to do the work quickly for me and that worked great. Turns out I needed two fillings but he did them together -- GOD bless him ... I was out of there in a flash!

Then we went to do our weekly groceries and got some great bargoons once again. Bought some BBQ spit Chicken and had that for our lunch; and so we switched our lunch to our dinner meal (we do that often). We even have enough left over for tomorrow too.

The temps have fallen a bit but mostly during the night which is good for the ice; but we had lovely all day today, making it a perfect day for going out for a ride. Looks like it will be good weather for our Carnival for this week(end).

Hope all our friends here are having a good week so far; take good care ... Rosebud

PS: UPDATE ON PRAYER REQUEST ~ OK, I looked into that story I mentioned earlier; it was accurate and it wasn't at the same time. There were two persons who worked there who died (both were sick and both committed suicide, but not at the same time). One was a man about 2 years ago (we knew him & his family); the other was a lady on the day I mentioned (last week). There was some confusion becuz they were mentioned at the same time; and the layoff was discussed too. I think I will check the stories out myself in the future BEFORE I mention anything to anyone ... forgive that please!

ROSEBUD No need to apologize!
You spoke from you heart...we all prayed..God sorted it out perfectly!

THANKS, GARY ~ my DH was talking with a friend who works there; and he had said "That's 2 people who worked there that had terminal illness that took their lives" ... then they went on to discuss the layoff and that people had run out of UI benefits. The town has made two offers to buy the plant (for the workers) so they can reopen it, yet have received no response from the owners, who have turned the place over to liquidators; but they aren't giving up -- they will keep trying as this is a major employer in our town and too many people depend on it. Thanks for your faithful prayers ...

Hi all! As some of you know, my DH works for a bank which was bought out by a larger regional bank, and this is the week when everyone gets notified whether they are to be laid off, or to continue with the new bank. Hubby and I were facing it reasonably calmly, because he only has one year till early retirement, and we could do without his salary for a year, and survive on his pension and our investments until Social Security kicks in. (He released me to God as a fulltime volunteer when I was diagnosed with lupus and wanted to enter the ministry. That was years ago, and He's met our every need.)

As it happens, they've offered DH a transitional contract through the exact month of his early retirement, in our area and at a higher salary. So we're okay here. But having read this thread lately, I'm reminded that it won't be an easy transition for many of my husband's co-workers. So please keep the employees of Wilmington Trust Company in your prayers.

I learned this while on my way to the nursing home on Wednesday. Then I faced a suicidal and very Catholic Alzheimer's patient who wanted to speak to a priest. Our Catholic chaplain recently passed away, and the local clergy just couldn't make time to help (this isn't a Catholic thing; once a clergy person of any denomination hears that a patient won't remember them the next day, they all seem to make excuses to not visit their parishioners for years on end!) So it took awhile to convince her that I'm a clergy member, and even longer to calm her down enough for the tranquilizers to put her to sleep. Then her roommate was confused and crying because of all the shouting; another hour for her too. A full day of regular chaplain stuff, then off to WW and feeling very certain that I was holding water after all the excitement (I tend to somatize emotional upheavals, and can gain a shoe size when under stress). But yay, I'd lost 0.8 pounds!

My job: eat 33 points per day, stay active, tick all the little healthy food boxes. Losing weight is not my job. Staying faithful to the Lord and the program is my job.

Quick fun chicken recipe: my mom is the assistant pastor of a church with a food closet, an avid Food Bank volunteer. The local Food Bank culls foods from the warehouse shelves when they are less than one month BEFORE expiry date. As we're all on Weight Watchers and not very picky about the dates on our stuff, the members of her church and my church have all benefited from some industrial-sized boxes of chicken which were too close to expiration for the Food Bank to distribute officially. Here's our no-added-points chicken sandwich recipe, which tastes best after it's been in the refrigerator overnight, and/or drained and mixed with fresh veggies such as tomatoes, peppers, and onions and marinated in red wine vinegar overnight:

Skin and debone some chicken, enough to fill a crock pot halfway or more. For a regular sized crockpot (I use a mini and cut the recipe in half), add three servings of low-sodium fat-free bouillon powder, a tablespoon each of parsley and onion powder, and a half tablespoon of celery powder or a teaspoon of crushed celery seeds. Fill with water to cover, then cook for three hours on high or all day on low. Leave in broth in refrigerator overnight, or drain in a colander and reserve brother, then mix and marinate sliced or shredded chicken overnight with vegetables (your choice). Lots of flavor; tastes like high-quality lunch meat with no added points and negligible sodium. The next day, remove fat from the top of the container, heat and strain the leftover broth to remove chicken scraps; then freeze; this is a great basic soup stock, or liquid for wok cooking, which freezes well for future use.

Sounds like hard work, but it isn't; just put it in the crock pot and let it cook. Then take off the layer of fat and strain the broth the next day and freeze it.

AUNTY ~ yes, these are hard times in North America for a lot of people: there have been a lot of mergers and lay-offs for sure. I sent up prayers for the workers at the Wilmingtom Trust Company. That's what happened here: a large multi-national company (KRUGER, INC) bought our plywood plant about 2 years ago, but the workers have been laid off more than they were working ever since they bought it. The workers would like to buy it themselves with the funds from their severance pay, but are worried that Kruger may not pay it to them; however, we are praying that they will do the right thing and honor their contract.

Your chicken recipe sounds great; simple and easy too. Like you, I like to put lots of herbs & spices in my chicken: the French Bouquet are my favorite -- GARLIC, ONION, CELERY, THYME & PARSLEY, plus BLACK PEPPER & a pinch of SALT. Sometimes, I add in a bit of poultry seasoning; and usually some carrots too (grated, sliced, or chopped). I also like turnip or parsnips with chicken or beef; they give the broth a nice twist. I like to add some onion, chicken, beef, or vegetable soup base to many recipes too (soups, stews, sauces, etc); they add a lot of flavor too.

Quote:

Losing weight is not my job. Staying faithful to the Lord and the program is my job.

Ya, I believe that too! I just pray to GOD, "I'll do my best and you do the rest!" With his added strength, I can keep to the plan most days. I know that I am eating in a healthy manner, so I am leaving it up to GOD to heal my body so that it will release the excess fat & weight that I don't need ...

Would you believe, I twisted my left knee somehow the other day; so DH had to pick me up some crutches to walk around with and they are helping (he got them at our local thrift shop for only $2.00; thank you, LORD). It is starting to feel better; and I hope it will be all healed up in a few days.

So I am just staying home and resting for this week; and DH is my little helper this weekend. He doesn't mind as I have helped him so many times when he was sick or hurt over the years (esp this past summer). He is even going to try and make dinner tonight; so I suggested hamburgers which are easy and he knows how to make them ... but I have to watch him though; he made me a coffee and almost put in double sweetener ... blech!!!

HEY BOOTSIE ~ are you alright out there; haven't heard from your sweet self for some time???

to RONNIE, BARGOO, GARY, and all our other MIA's out there (WILMA, KAREN, etc) ...

Hi, everyone! We've had a busy day already, but winding down a bit now. DS2 came home for the weekend and we had to go to town to get his eyeglass frames replaced. They were brand new, but they damaged them adjusting them the first time So, we also went for breakfast at Denny's, but they were soooooo ssslllllooooooowwwww today. Then, to Walmart for a prescription refill and picked up a new paper shredder while there-those shredders seem to be considered disposable these days-the last one we bought was quite expensive, but has only lasted about a year.

Rosebud-you seem to be something of a chef and I've been wondering for quite a long time what spices, seasonings can be used in place of garlic for flavoring on meats, sauces, etc? I absolutely cannot use garlic because it causes migraines and nausea, but so many recipes call for lots of it. I've been using onions, but not getting the depth of flavor that we'd have if I could use the garlic also. What do I use?